{"id":11991,"date":"2020-01-29T04:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T10:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/?p=11991"},"modified":"2021-04-08T10:02:47","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T15:02:47","slug":"how-to-make-the-most-of-your-college-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-college-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make the Most of Your College Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As a college\u00a0scout for National Scouting Report, I often\u00a0get a lot of face time with\u00a0college coaches, and one of the more noteworthy comments I received over the summer is how much these coaches appreciate our\u00a0scouts not &#8220;chasing the bumper sticker.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>What does that mean?<\/p>\n<p>College coaches see and recognize the value of a scouting organization that focuses more on the athlete\u00a0and less on force-fitting\u00a0everyone to only big-name or Division I schools.<\/p>\n<p>They appreciate\u00a0an organization that first and foremost\u00a0identifies and prioritizes the best\u00a0college fit for its\u00a0prospects.<\/p>\n<h2>Perception vs. Reality:\u00a0Identifying the Best Fit<\/h2>\n<p>Our primary focus, as scouts in the field, is\u00a0to identify the perfect fit\u00a0academically, financially, spiritually, socially, and of course athletically.<\/p>\n<p>We don&#8217;t want to merely shovel every prospect\u00a0to\u00a0big-name schools despite\u00a0the athlete&#8217;s (and family&#8217;s) best collective interest.\u00a0As a scout,\u00a0it doesn&#8217;t matter whether it&#8217;s a big-time D-I school or a small liberal arts school in the middle of nowhere.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the day, all that matters is the athlete&#8217;s, and family&#8217;s happiness. When they make their final college decision, and they&#8217;re happy, that&#8217;s what matters.<\/p>\n<p>Many times,\u00a0athletes\u00a0believe they should go to the highest level possible, even though that may not be the best fit for them.<\/p>\n<p>But one of the things we do is help the prospect, and their family, completely understand the situation. Taking all things into consideration,\u00a0you have to ask yourself specific questions\u00a0like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Will I get to play as a freshman?<\/li>\n<li>How will my athletic schedule fit in with my academic schedule?<\/li>\n<li>Do I like the coaches and team?<\/li>\n<li>Is this scholarship amount enough to help offset the cost of attendance?<\/li>\n<li>Does the school offer the degree I want to pursue?<\/li>\n<li>Will I succeed academically, and athletically?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For most athletes, this is the last four years they&#8217;ll ever play, so choosing\u00a0a school with immediate playing time might be a better option. For others, the ratio of academic\u00a0possibilities\u00a0vs. athletics may land higher on the\u00a0priority list.<\/p>\n<h2>You&#8217;re a Student first. Athlete second.<\/h2>\n<p>When you&#8217;re searching for a college, be\u00a0sure to include all the factors in your life.<\/p>\n<p>They call it a student-athlete for a reason &#8212; you&#8217;re a student first.<\/p>\n<p>So, if you feel a big-time D-I school is your perfect fit, that&#8217;s great. But if that\u00a0doesn&#8217;t suit your situation, there are more than 4,700\u00a0other schools that could be.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a matter of finding the right one. When all is said and done, and you choose the perfect fit for you, you can put a bumper sticker on your car and be proud of that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a college\u00a0scout for National Scouting Report, I often\u00a0get a lot of face time with\u00a0college coaches, and one of the more noteworthy comments I received over the summer is how much these coaches appreciate our\u00a0scouts not &#8220;chasing the bumper sticker.&#8221; What does that mean? College coaches see and recognize the value of a scouting organization &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-college-choice\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":12067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1299,865,3,859],"tags":[863,255,862,31,874,57,222,861],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11991"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11991"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15503,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11991\/revisions\/15503"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}